Mark Gatiss on 'An Adventure in Space and Time': "It's born of love"

An Adventure in Space and Time - BBC Two's drama biopic charting the origins of Doctor Who and the show's first three years under its original lead, William Hartnell - was screened at London's BFI Southbank last night (November 12) and the 90-minute period piece received a rapturous reception - not to mention a standing ovation - from an appreciative audience of fans and journalists.

Once the lights came up, Mark Gatiss - the man for whom An Adventure has been a long-held passion project - was one of several guests to take to the BFI's stage and discussed how he approached adapting a slice of television history into "a human drama".

"The strange thing is, because I'm a Jon Pertwee child, this was before my time," Gatiss acknowledged. "But I grew up with the story - almost like a bedtime story - of how the show came together. These very unlikely people coming together… nobody liking the Daleks… all these little stories that were like holy writ.

"I always thought it would just be a fantastic story to tell and it's just come together at the right time."

As he began writing his first draft, Gatiss quickly found that his role as lifelong fan of Doctor Who was proving to be both a boon and a burden. There were many fanboy moments…

"Stepping onto designer Dave Arrowsmith's amazing reproduction of the TARDIS for the first time, I actually had to stuff my scarf into my mouth - I was that excited!"

But there were also difficult decisions to be made, as Gatiss found it was necessary to cut many important events - and key figures from Doctor Who's early history - in order to transform real events into television drama.

"That was genuinely the biggest challenge - taking off my anorak, which is almost impossible, and narrowing it down.

"There was a draft where [then-BBC head of drama] Sydney Newman [played by Brian Cox] was walking down the corridors of Television Center and there were about 100 people behind him with names bobbing above them - it was like Sherlock - and there was [writer] 'Bunny' Webber and [producer] Donald Wilson and [script editor] David Whitaker…

"It just didn't work and eventually you've got to go for it and say, 'You can't have everyone…' - but that's why we've got a website going live with the show which has a massive timeline, really to say thank you to all those amazing people."

At its heart, Gatiss says, An Adventure in Space and Time is a story about change and how "we're all replaceable" - something that William Hartnell, portrayed by David Bradley in the drama, learned the hard way.

"We think of it going on with Patrick Troughton, the whole thing carrying on… but that for him was the moment where it all stopped. Doctor Who came about because of change at the BBC… but then actually it was change that did for Bill… that to me was fascinating."

Despite the tragedy of Hartnell's plight - the actor's deteriorating health forced him to abandon his Doctor Who duties in 1966 - Gatiss insists that viewers will also find the acclaimed character actor's life story "very uplifting".

"I wanted it to be a celebration - not any kind of hatchet job. It's born of love and I think it shows in every frame."